"How do you know?"
"Because she is here in Yarmouth, and I have just left her and her child together."
"Well, wonders never cease! and I suppose you know why Joe Skinner has left the office?"
"That he may get entire rule in my poor sister's home, and grind every penny out of her. The reason is plain enough."
"Ah! but there's another reason. He is dismissed from the office for certain irregularities in the cash. He has narrowly escaped prosecution—so I hear."
"Oh, George, then our suspicions about that little cash-box are right!"
"It looks like it," George said, as Patience's eyes shone with a wonderful light of hope. "It looks like it; and when the boy comes home, we will see his character cleared."
"When he comes home! Oh, another 'when,' another waiting time!" Patience sighed out, "There is a word which gives me comfort, however, and I am always hearing it, as if it were whispered to me: 'If it tarry, wait for it.'"
"You find waiting easier than I do," George said.
"Easy!" she said, clasping her hands together. "Easy! oh, only God knows how hard!"